Drapery hooks



July 26, 1960 s. A. WILKIE 2,946,107

DRAPERY HOOKS Filed April 9, 1958 INVENTOR 7 5774NLYALVIN W/LK/E UnitedStates Patent DRAPERY HOOKS Stanley A. Wilkie, Wilkie Industries, 304 S.Mears Ave., Whitehall, Mich.

Filed Apr. 9, 1958, Ser. No. 727,496

1 Claim. CI. 24-86) This invention relates generally to support meansfor suspending draperies on bars and hangers, and in particular isdirected to a novel hook form for hanging draperies from conventionalhorizontal bars so that the head of the drape does not sag outwardlyfrom the wall.

One difiiculty observed in hanging draperies with conventional prior artdrapery hooks is that the head or top of the drape tends to fallforwardly and to sag outwardly away from the vertical owing to thecouple or turning moment exerted by the weight of the drape acting in aline horizontally offset from the center of support of the hook on thebar. The drapery hook of the present invention provides an improvedsuspension for a drape by the use of which the objectionable forward sagof the head of the drape is opposed by the action of a counterbalancingcouple due to the weight of the hook and additional weights that may beadded.

In prior art drapery hooks of which applicant is aware the fabric of thedrape is stitched to head-shaping upright portions joined to hookportions which lie forwardly of the suspension hook, the displacementbeing in many instances greater than a half inch. The upper and lowerends of the prong support devices lie respectively above and below thehook hanger bar or rod, with the result that a turning moment isproduced due to theweight of the drape depending from the lower end ofthe prong, causing it to rotate about the point of support on the bar sothat the upper end overhangs away from the wall. The resulting saggingis displeasing, and often adversely affects the hanging and folds of thedrape.

As a solution to the problem indicated above, it is an object of thepresent invention to provide a suspension hook device whose constructionminimizes the tendency of drapery support prongs to be rotated out ofthe vertical.

It is a further object of the present invention to realize acounter-balancing draper hook whereby a lighter weight drape isautomatically counterbalanced by the weight of rear-wardly extendingportions of the hook, and heavier drapes deliberately may becounterbalanced by the addition of weights on a lever arm formedintegrally with the hook.

According to the invention, a counter-balancing hook is constructed toprovide a suitable vertical prong, pin, or array of uprights as draperyattaching elements, to whose lower end there is integrally joined acounterbalancing lever arm portion extending rearwardly and horizontallyor substantially horizontally, with a return bend continuing in the sameplane obliquely upward and bent twice to define a hook portion whosepoint of support lies close to the upright.

In carrying the invention into effect rigid material such as steel,brass or other suitable metal wire forms are shaped to provide verticalprongs or other drapery attachment portions, and a suspension hookportion either integral with or joined integrally with such portion isshaped like the figure S whose lower horizontal limb is formed as alever arm straight portion extending from the base of the prong or otherdrapery attachment,

ments being presented as illustrative of the practice of the inventionand not necessarily as limiting the construction to the precise formsdescribed, which forms may he obviously modified within the scope of theappended claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation view of a hook with drape fabric attached,showing the actions of the various forces acting on the hook;

Fig. 2 is a perspective sketch showing a hook associated with asupporting bar for a drape;

Figs. 3 and 4 are respectively side elevation and front elevation viewsof the hook of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 illustrates a modified form of hook having multiple prong drapeattaching portions; and,

Fig. 6 illustrates a hook having a pin type of drapery attachment.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings a drapery hook having adrape attachment portion 11 to which a drape generally indicated as D inFig. 1 may be fastened in any suitable manner, has a hook portion 13which rides upon a drapery bar or track 10. A lever arm horizontalportion designated 12 extends rearwardly away from the drape connectedto the lower end of the upright portion 11, and connects with thehook-forming part by an obliquely disposed return straight portion 14which completes a right-angle triangle with the sides 11 and 12. Theopening of the hook is designated at 16,

between the prong portion 15 which extends downwardly' rearwardlygenerally in the same direction as the part 14,

and the lower end of the part 14. It will be seen that r the drape andthe mass of that portion of the hook lying forwardly of the bar It isrepresented by the downwardly directed arrow A. The combined weight ofthe rearwardly extendinghook portions 12, 14, and 15, and any additionalweighting device such as that indicated by 17, is represented by thedownwardly directed arrow C. The upwardly directed arrow B through thepoint of support of the hook at 13 is indicated as the sum of the forcesA and C.

The offset distance in a horizontal direction between the lines ofaction of the components A and B is preferably made as small aspractical, and may in practice be realized as a distance of from A to 7inches. The undesired couple which tends to cause forward droop of thehead of the drape, has a magnitude which is the product of the force Amultiplied by the offset distance referred to. The length of thehorizontal arm portion 12 may be chosen in accordance with theparticular application intended and should be made as large as practicaland may conveniently extend for distances of from 1% inches to 1% incheshorizontally from the fabric. It will be noted that the major portion ofthe length of the lever arm 12 as well as the lower and upper arms 14and 15 of the hook lie to the rear of a vertical plane passing throughthe point of suspension 13 of the hook and hence the weight of the majorportion of the lever arm 12 and the arms 14 and 15,- and the extensionthereof rearwardly of the point of suspension, will tend tocounterbalance the leg element and hold itperpendicular or substantiallyperpendicular.

The counterbalancing couple is equal to the product of the force Bmultiplied by the distance between a vertical passed through the point13 and the location of the latter force. It is also preferable that thepoint of support 13 lie at a distance above the lever arm 12 which ischosen to be ofthe order of /3 of the total height of the prongs 11. Thecounterbalancing weight 17 may take any suitable form and may berealized, for example, as a slotted lead slug which is compressed togrip the arm 12.

In supporting the lighter weighttdraperies no additional weight 17 needbe provided where the number of hooks used is sufficient to properlyshape the head of the drape. For example with hooks of the typeindicated in Figs. 2, 3, and 4, spaced along the width of the drape atdistances of the order of four inches on centers, hook supports formedof steel wire of 0.090 inch gauge with arms 12 measuring 1% inches longhave provided satisfactory counterbalancing.

Where the depth of the hanger bar 10 in the vertical direction isrelatively large, as in Fig. 2, the return portion 14 is bent back at amore acute angle. The width of the aperture 16 need be only large enoughto admit the bar with its narrower end presented towards the opening.

, Any suitable disposition of drapery support attachment elements 11 maybe employed depending on the nature of the drapery head to be realized,and both plastic pointed forms such as are shown in Fig. 5 or pin formsas shownin Fig. 6 may have the counterbalancing portion attachedthereto.

7 In fabricating the device of Figs. 2, 3, and 4 the prongs 11 may beformed as U-shaped loops to the base of which an integral bent wireportion comprising the elements 15, 14, and 12 is spot welded or brazed.Similarly the device of Fig, 5 may comprise a pair of U-shaped verticalloops A of different widths to which the. lever arm 12 of the lower endof a hook is similarly welded or brazed.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the present invention provides anovel construction of a suspension device for attachment to the head ofa drape and for hanging the drape on the horizontal bar, wherein theturning moments developed due to the offsetting of the verticalcomponents of force are equalized about the point of support. Such hooksmay be fabricated by simple methods and at relatively low cost, andmaybe adjusted precisely for drapery fabrics of any weight.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege 'is claimed as defined as follows:

A supporting hook for draperies comprising an upright substantiallystraight leg element adapted to be secured to a header portion of adrapery, an inverted generally 1.!- shaped suspending hook at the rearof said leg element, the base of the U providing the point ofsuspension, said point of suspension being disposed very close to aninter mediate portion of said leg element with the two arms of the Uextending downwardly and rearwarcl ly to dispose their major portionsrearward of the point of suspension of the hook, and a substantiallystraight lever arm having one end fixed to the lower end of said legelement and its other end fixed to the end of the lower arm of saidhook, said lever arm extending rearwardly from the leg element todispose a major portion of its length rearwardly of a vertical planepassing through the point of suspension of the hook, whereby the weightof said rearwardly disposed major portion of said l'ever arm and hookand the extent thereof rearwardly of said pbi'rit of suspension willtend to counter-balance the leg ele ment and hold it substantiallyperpendicular.

lieferences Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

